Jalen Hurts extension: How Eagles set up deal similar to Patrick Mahomes’ record-setting contract with Chiefs

Jalen Hurts is the highest-paid player in NFL history at $51 million a year, thanks to the record-setting contract that will keep him with the Philadelphia Eagles until the 2028 season. The Eagles showcased their financial commitment to Hurts by giving the MVP runner-up $179.304 million guaranteed — the second-largest guaranteed money to a player in NFL history. 

The final terms of the Hurts contract is five years at $255 million, an average annual value at $51 million. The deal included $110 million fully guaranteed at signing the contract and $126.5 million fully guaranteed to the quarterback by March of 2024. Hurts also has a signing bonus of $23.294 million for the 2023 season, giving him financial stability with the Eagles for the next six seasons. 

While the Hurts deal is massive, the Eagles set up the contract to keep a talented roster intact to aid their franchise quarterback. The Kansas City Chiefs did the same when Patrick Mahomes signed his massive $450 million extension after winning the Super Bowl in the 2020 offseason. The franchise has been to two Super Bowls since (winning Super Bowl LVII in 2023).

The Chiefs wrote the blueprint for huge quarterback contracts, and the Eagles followed it. Here’s a look at how the Hurts and Mahomes deals are similar, and why the Eagles were set up to win with their franchise quarterback making big money. 

The cap hit

Hurts has an unbelievable salary cap hit for 2023 and the first three seasons of his extension, thanks to Eagles general manager Howie Roseman having a signing bonus structure that significantly favors the team’s salary cap hit in future seasons. Per ESPN, this will be Hurts’ cap hit over the next four years. 

How does this compare to how Chiefs general manager Brett Veach structured the Mahomes deal? Mahomes had a cap hit of $5.34 million in 2020, $7.43 million in 2021 and $35.79 million in 2022. His cap hit for 2023 is $39.69 million, one that will escalate over the next several years. 

The signing bonus of $63 million guaranteed certainly helped that cap hit over that four-year stretch, along with Mahomes’ 2023 and 2024 salary and workout bonus becoming fully guaranteed over the life of the deal — a total value of $86.38 million (and $223.3 million in dead cap). 

While Hurts’ contract is still being unraveled, the structure of how…